London Letter: Royal British Legion volunteers sell red poppies as Remembrance Sunday approaches
Fundraisers for the Royal British Legion find themselves surrounded by people taking part in a sit-down protest at Charing Cross station in London following a rally in support of Palestine. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images
Those buying the poppies in exchange for donations to the RBL didn’t appear to fit neatly into any particular group. Most customers over the half an hour or so that I observed the table were white, but a handful were of other ethnicities. They were young and old, women and men. The exchanges between them and the volunteers seemed to be universally courteous. The customers immediately pinned their poppies on to their left-hand lapels, above their hearts.
The agitated man’s hands appeared to be shaking. He pointed to his eyebrow, around which there was a small cut and bruise. He told the volunteers that he been attacked outside the station and someone had taken his mobile phone. The woman volunteer with the dyed red fringe took the metal badge from him and gently lifted his lapel, pinning his poppy on to it. The man walked out of the station and into the evening darkness.
Most pro-Palestinian marchers certainly don’t wear poppies, and for weeks they have filled London’s streets in their hundreds of thousands. Last Saturday they staged a spontaneous sit in at Charing Cross station, thronging its concourse and prompting police to restrict entry.
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